A new study published by the UW-Madison Law School says criticism of the number of civil litigation cases in Wisconsin is unfounded despite claims from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's largest business lobby.
The report attempts to debunk ""persistent myths"" about civil courts and presents facts about the number of cases filed in state and federal courts from 1996 through 2007.
According to the report, tort filings, which provide compensatory damages for harm done to a party's person or property, decreased by 24.1 percent with respect to population between 1996 and 2007.
""I get a sense that the report is suggesting that we have overreacted to the series of Supreme Court decisions earlier in the decade,"" John Metcalf, director of human resources policy at WMC, said.
Although the total number of civil findings in Wisconsin state and federal courts increased by 34.2 percent between 1996 and 2007, 60.9 percent of these claims were related to small claims suits or debt claims.
Critics of Wisconsin's civil justice system, such as WMC, have said the number of civil suits in Wisconsin has driven valuable businesses out of Wisconsin, according to the report.
""The less certainty that there is in the marketplace, the riskier it is to do business in a jurisdiction that has rules that aren't as clear,"" Metcalf said in reference to Wisconsin's ""unique"" liability laws.
Howard Schweber, a UW-Madison associate professor of political science, said WMC has made a ""big deal"" about excessive litigation practices before the last two judicial election cycles.
""Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is using tort reform and crime as hot-button social issues, ways of painting someone as a liberal in the hope of appealing to voters who are self-described as conservative,"" he said.
Amid criticism that Wisconsin has a high number of trial lawyers, the report said Wisconsin is second only to Iowa among nearby states, including Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa, in number of trial lawyers per capita.
""I tend to think that the law school survey has it right. I have not seen any evidence that excessive litigation is a serious problem in Wisconsin,"" Schweber said.
